Well, not that many really. We only had one TV in the house, and that meant it was usually whatever my dad wanted to watch. End of discussion. Remote controls weren’t even a thing back then, so if you wanted to change the channel, you had to physically get up and twist a dial. Hard labor, basically!
Most of the time, though, us kids weren’t indoors staring at a screen. We were outside, running wild in the fields, building dens, climbing trees, riding our bikes until dusk came, and sometimes even after. Looking back, that was probably the best kind of entertainment, unpredictable, unscripted, and nobody shouting “to be continued” at the good bit.
Still, there were a few shows that stick in my memory. Father Ted was comedy gold, Only Fools and Horses was genius (Del Boy falling through the bar, classic!), and then there were the flashier imports like Miami Vice with its pastel suits, and Hawaii Five-O which always made the world feel a lot bigger than our little patch of Ireland.
As a younger child, I loved the classics,Tom and Jerry especially. Pure mayhem, and not a word spoken, yet it said everything.
One thing I definitely didn’t love was Coronation Street. Half the country was hooked, but I couldn’t stand it. Doom, gloom, and people arguing in cobbled backstreets? No thanks, I had my own family for that kind of drama!
Truth be told, the real “TV show” of my childhood wasn’t on the screen at all. It was out in the fields, where we created the plots, played all the characters, and never needed a script.
So yes, I watched a bit of Father Ted and Only Fools, but my favorite series will always be “Life, Season One: Kids vs. The Great Outdoors.” And unlike the soaps, it never got boring and it never needed a theme tune.
UNDER THE WILL... OVER THE DRAMA... 
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